Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
Could this be the "definitive" Nintendo game... Game of the Day Name: Final Fantasy VI (aka Final Fantasy III in the U.S.) Released: 1994 Developer: Squaresoft Platform: Super Nintendo Entertainment System If there's one franchise you associate with RPGs, chances are you would think of Squaresoft's Final Fantasy. And without a doubt one of the best games to come from that franchise was Final Fantasy VI... or III depending on how you looked at it. The numbering for this franchise was extremely odd as you can see up above. The main reason for this was because Final Fantasy II, III and V were never localised to North America at the time that this game was released, they thought it best that they reorganised the order so that it made sense for the non-Japanese gamer. So consequently, Final Fantasy IV was released as Final Fantasy II in the U.S. and Final Fantasy VI was released as Final Fantasy III. Now that we've cleared that up, let's move on to the premise of the game. This game is set in a world where the technology is reminiscent to that of the Second Industrial Revolution, and the story revolves around a group of rebels that are trying to overthrow the imperial dictator Kefka. I'm not going to go into detail about who or what Kefka is and does (you'll have to play the game to find all that out) but in my opinion, he is one of the best video game villains I have ever seen. Kefka is a very threatening presence throughout the game and his determination to wreak havoc and destruction for the fun of it is quite confronting but fantastic at the same time. Not only is the antagonist brilliant but so are the protagonists. The fourteen protagonists (the most amount of playable characters in any of the Final Fantasy games) all have different personalities and are quite diverse. Personality wasn't a high priority among games back when this was released; instead it was more about the gameplay mechanics and the story, so the use of character development is kind of a big deal. That being said, the gameplay mechanics are also very intuitive yet simplified that allowed for different strategies on how to approach the different enemies throughout and the story... well I'm not going to go into much detail on this either but it is very clever. Lots of twists and turns and memorable moments and just when you think you know what will happen, the game throws a giant curveball. It's a rollercoaster ride the whole way through and I loved every minute of it. If you need any more reasons why this game is worthy of being the definitive Nintendo game, the music composition is just amazing. It is plentiful and varied to suit the different locations and scenarios and there are so many genres used. Words fail to describe how good the music is. You just need to experience it for yourself. Finally, one of the best things I loved about this is the graphics. The Mode 7 graphics create a 3D feel to the game that fetaures on a 2D platform and you get this feel from the get-go as you see some of the characters marching through the harsh snow and the city slowly rises into view. The graphics are also very detailed and this is demonstrated with the different environments and the character sprites. Overall, it's a very dark game with consequences which is a nice contrast to the conventional video-game storylines at the time. It's one of the best RPGs to ever exist and if you're a fan of great games, this is still a definite must-play. #FinalFantasy #FinalFantasyVI #SNES